Polaroid Love

Did you see that last week was 'Roid Week 2008 on Flickr (I'm always at least a week behind on these things). Check it out.  Above are some of my favorites from the week (click on the photo for credits). There's also the upcoming For the Love of Light: A Tribute to the art of Polaroid, which I'm excited to see.

In a chapter on kids and cameras in my book, there's a bit about Polaroids - which was written, of course, before the sad news that Poloroid would stop producting it's film (check out Save Polaroid). Since hearing the news, I've been a little stingy with the film we have left. Though, admittedly, at $1 a pop, I was pretty stingy before. But up until now, I haven't been ready to deal with kids digital cameras, and I'm not a fan of all the disposableness with the disposable cameras. I keep intending to pick up a couple of point and shoot film cameras for the kids, and I suppose now with the Polaroid news that will be happening sooner rather than later.

But we do love our "one a day" Polaroid action so much. The kids really think about the shot they want to take, and the 'instant' result of watching the photograph develop in front of their eyes is quite magical. They rotate their photos in and out of display (above), and eventually they land in each of their own photo albums.

One thing I really love that they do with the Polaroids is create new art with them. Ezra often will take a picture of something, and then come inside to 'recreate' it on paper.

Can you read that? It says, "This is hard to make". I guess that was an important declaration for him to make about this one. It makes me smile.

Are your childhood albums full of Polaroids too? The camera the kids use was my grandfather's. And I remember my grandmother with hers in hand often - and her photo albums full of the little squares with - more often than not - her handwritten notes on the white strip below. Ah, Polaroid.

So, I'm curious. What are your children doing with cameras? Have you found "kids" digital cameras that you're pleased with? Is there a designated kids camera in your family? Or is film the answer for you/them? I'm all ears, as we think about expanding our options here!

Comments

[jennie]

drawings from photographs...a SPLENDID idea!! my children will love this idea. THANK YOU.

[melmo]

It's funny how I could spot hannah's photo by her rolled up jeans.

I love the photo a day idea, makes me want to get a color printer so that we can print out a photo a day for our boys...hmmm, how to work it?

[jen j-m]

i let the kids use my oldest digital camera, basically a point and shoot canon that i am no longer very attached to. they've taken lots of great pictures. and for portraits, they love photobooth on my macbook, or as sam calls it, "the mirror of erised" - which would only make sense if you were a harry potter fan. :) i am way too stingy with the polaroid film to let them anywhere near it...

[meg]

a photo a day. you are so organized! My daughter is 2 1/2 and she thinks there is a picture of everything that happened, often asking to see a picture of something very specific (her brother sleeping while mama makes lunch and she plays with blocks).

[amy_in_nyc]

Hi - I'm just posting to send some book love your way. I finished it yesterday and loved every page - some got dog-eared, others got sticky notes. You're reminding us of a philosophy for life and that is just priceless. Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to write it. -- Amy

[Juli]

Love those :*) We have the KidTough camera and have been happy with it. It was once left outside for about a week (:X) and when we finally found it, it turned on just fine and worked great. My 4 yr old has had it for a year and can work it great, my 2 yr old is just now starting to get the concept. They both, however, would MUCH rather be playing with my Sony Cybershot. When I get a new camera, I'll be handing that one down, I'm sure.

[annette]

I also have given over my older digital camera (though I still "borrow" it back sometimes!) -- I do like the fact that we can print them immediately on a photo printer (kids love that instant gratification), and we can erase the duds directly from the camera.

We've also given them a film camera, but the camera battery is not rechargable as is the digital and replacement batteries are quite expensive; and the cost of film plus developing, given the reduced number of usable photos that result, yields a pretty high per-photo cost.

There really are a lot of inexpensive digital cameras available now -- we'll probably need multiples soon!

[shelle]

thanks for the polaroid info, i had no idea it was discontinued. we do let our kids use digital but there are issues around it because we limit screen time so they cannot play around with their photos and i still have to print them out. the kids use an old webcam and a canon a70 both work well and easy for kids to use. the polaroid was perfect for those instant results. peace

[Aimee]

We got a children's V-Tech digital camera from Target that my 5 year old loves...it even allows him to shoot some video. It has been a great investment b/c he can click to his heart's delight and then delete them if he wishes to. And it is made to handle being dropped, etc. We had some cheapy film cameras, but the kids would fly through the film so fast and all the developing got way too expensive for a lot of shots that weren't great.

[erin]

i'm going to follow this conversation closely....i need some good options that don't involve my digital slr.

[Lila]

Good morning Amanda,

Gosh, they are going to really stop making polaroids films? I was about to try to get one for the girls for this summer trip back to our old home in California... I remember the smell of the polaroid pictures and the little white strip at the bottom with handwritten comments... And other lost world and era?...
I take a lot of pictures myself but i have not let Alana, now 5 years old, use the digital camera yet [not to mention Tessa :: she is 2]. It is heavy and not made for their hands. At least the one i have [Nikon D50]. As for the magical rewrding experience of having the picture develops before their eyes :: they love seeing the immediate result on the stamp-size screen at the back of the camera. Not the same, i could ot agree more. But tessa loves it . She says in her half english-half french:: "me voir [me see]". I also try to downlaod pictures as fast as possible onto my Mac for a family viewing. But definitely not the same as the magical Polaroids... So sad.

Please keep us posted if you find an alternative to the polaroids among all your readers suggestions.

By the way, i love your polaroids display and Ezra drawing from it. Your book is a treasure of parenting and creativity. Thank you

A bientot,

[camerashymomma]

i have been wanting to make a decision about river's camera for awhile and your book got me even more motivated. i like the sturdiness of the kids digital cameras but they take crappy pictures and are so huge and clunky, and i want him to learn to be safe with his camera ya know? not know that it can be thrown off a rock and survive, cause that's not real life! :) my husband has a polaroid that i should buy film for, just because of the sad news! (i had blocked that out, so sad, all my early photo memories are from my dad's old brown polaroid with the red button) your 'one a day' polaroid makes sense to me, puttting a limit on it that i can wrap my budget around! :) i recently found my old point and shoot digital fuji and have been letting him walk around with that. now i just need to find the USB cable for it! :)

[Lindsey]

A relative gave our kids a vtech kidizoom digital camera as a holiday gift. At first we were thrilled with it, because it seems solid and it gave them a chance to have their own camera for picture taking. However, once my son (almost 7 now) discovered there were games on it (some involving the pictures you've taken) he spent more time playing the games than taking pictures. We would rather it was just a camera. Since the batteries died we haven't put new rechargeable batteries in it, but instead have been letting them use our point and shoot digital camera (a Sony) and occasionally they get to take a picture with our Canon Digital Rebel (though we are hovering when the kids have their hands on that one!).

I do love to see what they decide is photo-worthy. This morning before school my son was taking pictures of himself in the mirror, fascinated by how the flash reflected in the mirror so much to obscure his own reflection. I loved that. :)

[robinette]

Some of my favorite family pics are on polaroids. We gave our five yr. old a used digital camera for his last birthday - a Canon Sureshot I think - very easy to use, not too many buttons. He loves it and brings it everywhere with him!

[Danielle]

We have a kid's digital camera, it was received as a gift, the kids enjoy it immensely... but the quality is so bad, we don't print any pictures from it. They just play with it.

I just recently got a new digital camera, my old one is now the kids to use for those special pictures.

I love your one a day picture idea... we are definitely going to give that a go, with digital. We don't have a polaroid camera:-( Thanks for the inspiration!!

[Liz]

I got a simple digital camera from wal-mart ($30) for my nephew (6) for x-mas last year. He likes it a lot. Because of the low price we weren't really worried if his little sister (3) got a hold of it.

[CTG]

We have the fisher price digital camera which the kids adore and really like the two eye view finder. But as was mentioned above the quality of the photos is really poor and makes it not worth printing. One additional drawback, at least to our Fisher Price one (we bought it the first year it came out, so this problem may have been fixed) is the delete button makes a fun noise, so my son deletes every photo he takes.

For the most part we let the kids use our point and shoot Sony Cybershot and they get some great photos. I do wish we had a Polaroid, there is something special about a Polaroid that is intangible...that I've never felt recreated with a digital or a standard film camera.

[mel]

we have the Fisher Price KidTough camera. We actually have not downloaded any of the photos to our computer, but I know others that have and they are decent. It is easy to operate and kids seem to like the instant gratification of seeing their work immediately. :) My two-year old can operate it easily and it can definitely take a beating. If it took better photos, i would have to get one for myself since i am notorious for dropping my camera. :)

[mollie]

we have an older point and shoot that the kids use on a whim. it's been dropped in a wading pool (!) and still works well. i like to have them use a regular camera rather than a kids version of a disposable because they're more careful (unless they're playing in water!) with *real* tools than they are with things designed to be indestructible. they're 3 and 5, tho, so a kids digital camera isn't really necessary as it might be for a 2 year old photographer!

[Jennifer]

We are big photography fans at our house (I was a photo minor in college). My daughter started as an 8 year old with a simple film camera. My son started at 8 or 9 with a polaroid digital camera. Both first forays into photography were unfulfilling. Photos were blurry, cropped oddly and generally bad. While the little digital polaroid still gets occasional use the transition to good photography started when we began letting the children use our Canon PowerShot S3IS. (We like this camera because it can be completely automatic or manual.) We have ardent rules--strap around the neck, use the viewfinder for framing, keep it in a case when hiking. And over time I've taught them about the features, bracketting, tripods, composition and the like. My kids have taken some amazing pictures that they are desperately proud of. My daughter, 15, has a great Flickr set (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewilker345/) and my son, 10, just sold two of his photos to a local artist.

Em upgraded to a Canon PowerShot A530 last year. It has slightly fewer features but fits nicely into her backpack. As for the family I'm pretty sure we will move up to a SLR digital camera within a year and the S3IS will move on to our son.

Of course real cameras are fragile beasts. We've learned the hard way that they don't mix well with high winds and beach sand. But learning to take appropriate precautions is part of the process and part of their growth as individuals. (And, undoubtedly it will be Mom that drops it on a hard floor.)

So, this is all a long way of saying buy the best you can afford. Teach them to treat the camera with respect and they will be rewarded.

[Rebecca]

I am so sad to hear about polaroid, maybe I should go and stock up, the very first "birth" pictures of both my children are on polaroid and I love that they remind me of my own baby pictures.

My eight year old got a basic digital camera for Christmas, one that clicks into a little dedicated printer, it is not a kid one but not an expensive one either, I am very glad we didn't go for a kid one, his mastery of all the functions is amazing and it has probably been one of the most successful presents ever, he takes it everywhere and is never frustrated by it.

[meg]

My 5 year old has a 'real' digital camera. It's a mid price digital from Kodak. She is very responsible with it and the camera itself is easy to use and takes fantastic pictures. When researching cameras for her we were disappointed with the type marketed for kids. The results aren't as nice as I would like for the effort my child makes while taking pictures. The camera she has is very sturdy and she made her own camera case for it.
I had considered a film camera for her but the cost of film and developing made it cost prohibitive in the long run. With a digital she can take 100 pictures if she chooses and it doesn't cost any extra. I feel as though I'm more laid back with her experimenting when it isn't costing me money.

[bigbucketgirl]

I don't usually go for 'kid' versions of art materials/ cooking utensils etc and for us the same for technology. We got entry level cameras and they are simple without losing out on quality, good battery usage and the kids can run their own show.
Our 9 and 7yr old have a canon a410 powershot each with 1gb memory..they love it! They use them whenever they want, easy access, easy to use, and once a week we help them download what they have, print, store, photoshop and delete! They LOVE to take photos really quickly, one after another, and then watch them on the laptop as a slideshow...like the old b + w movies..jerky and a with a few seconds delay. That works brilliantly when their subject is eating or kids on swings!!
We let them print the ones they particularly want but at the moment they really like to store them on cd and play them back on the dvd players in the car! it makes for stress-less car trips. DD is a bit of a librarian and catalogs them!

[blair]

I really love that you give the kids "one a day", I'm going to remember that. When I read the news, I gave instructions to Peter the next time he ran errands to "find some Polaroid film please!".

[Beth]

My two older children (10 and 13) each received a real digital camera for Christmas. They absolutely LOVE them! I'm hoping to update my Canon IS3 for Christmas (I told my dh to start saving! LOL!); my 13 year old begged to have it when I do!
I'm learning at the ripe old age of 46 that there are many forms of creativity. Not only does my son enjoy taking all sorts of photographs, he also loves editing them on the computer. I consider these life skills, whether for future careers or just pure enjoyment.

We all allow my 4yr old to take pictures with our cameras when we are right there to supervise. When he is a little older, we'll probably get him a real digital camera, also.

Blessings,
Beth

[kendra]

At this point the boys have both a polaroid and an old digital without film that they play with. At this young age they just like to look in the viewfinder and say 'click!' But I will miss the 'immediate' results you get with poloroid, that magic of how it develops, its so neat for kids. I suppose we'll end up doing a bit of each until we find the right medium for these crazy boys.

[maya]

my grandmama loved her polaroid. i wish i still had one of hers - she went through several during the 80s.

my 2.5-year-old loves to take pictures with my old point and shoot, but so far most of her pictures are of her nose, forehead and eyes.

i've debated on whether to get her a kid's digital camera or to teach her use (and be careful with) the old point and shoot (which wasn't inexpensive!).

[bigbucketgirl]

Oh i wanted to say the our #3, just a few weeks older than Adelaide..can tell Daddy when he's doing it wrong! He's not getting his own yet(!)..not until his love of dropping things down the toilet has elapsed at least!, but he does take some hilarious photos so he's encouraged all the way!

[Rachel]

Great post - I love taking polaroids as a child, too. Instant gratification!

[maya]

i'm sure that in the next year, there will be tons of kids' blogs of their photography - along the lines of adie loves polly, which is just precious.

i'm very much looking forward to doing this with my daughter - and making blurb books for her with the outcome.

[Katherine]

What about getting them a 2nd hand point and shoot digital, or even trying to get a friends old one or something from Freecycle? We gave an old one we had to a 4 year old we knew and he loved it, and it didn't matter if he broke it as it hadn't cost him or his mum anything.

[julia]

what a wonderful thing to do. when i was a kid (well before digicameras) my parents got me a cheap film camera and i absolutely loved it. i have so many double-exposed photos of family members now. it's so fun to look back and see how i saw the world back then.

[Emily]

my kiddos take photos with Holga film cameras. I bought the cameras for $25 each and their first roll of bw film. They buy new film with their own allowance. I love the square photos they make and they love them too. Our experience isn't instant gratification or digital, but it's special in different ways. When we open the package of developed photos we relive the experience we had when the photos were taken.

[Robbyn]

I found your site a while back from Rhonda's down-to-earth blog (which I love!) and really enjoy reading your posts :) I've included you on my most recent blogroll...lovely blog you have here!

[Lorilee]

My oldest son (8yo) loves my old digital camera after I upgraded to a Nikon D80! YES!

He loves to make little videos with it using his legos figures. They are so funny. He took pictures in the sandbox the other day and this set was so great. http://livenlearnnow.typepad.com/lucas_insights/
It's the Army Trench photo album.
Kids with cameras is wonderful. I love to see their perspectives. They also love to photograph what it important to them, which can be surprising sometimes.

[Lisa Z]

I bought my DD9 the Polaroid kid's digital camera last Feb. It is decent and the photo quality is good. It's a 3 mega-pixel and cost about $100 at Target. Still, she doesn't use it much. I kind of regret the money spent, but I thought she'd really like a camera of her own. Maybe it will be used more in the future...I'm sure with your boys they'd get a lot of use out of it!

I read the reviews of kid's digital cameras on Amazon.com before I made my purchase. They were helpful.

[Morgan]

The photo a day is a wonderful idea, Amanda. Will definitely remember that when Henry gets a bit older.

xoxo

[SierraMoon]

My daughter, almost 9 year old, is happy to use our simple Sony Cyber Shot in automatic mode, until I upgrade to a Nikon D50 where she will have it for herself only...

And by the way, your book has reached my French mailbox last Friday (included in the post linked below)

http://arcencielolavabo.canalblog.com/archives/2008/04/26/index.html

Needless to say I spent a very good weekend with it in my hand ! I bought it because your ideas about education are similar to mine and what I can say after having read the book is that you're truly a beautiful person -- inside out.

[Christy B]

My girls, ages 7 & 9, received their own digi cameras for Christmas. They got the Polaroid brand that is less than $100. They love them--they are documenting their childhood from their perspective. And they can make videos with the camera as well. And with digital, they can take gazillions of pictures and I'm not worried about the price of film. Batteries, on the other hand? We had to switch to rechargeable batteries because they were eating them up!

[Wendy]

I do like the idea of the kids having to really think about what picture they're going to take before they do it.

However, it's really fantastic to sometimes let them just go crazy with a camera and take all the pictures they want. It's like the opposite of perfectionism. We let ours use our old camera from when we upgraded. And I agree with most of the comments, that kids' cameras aren't great. Just get a regular cheap one.

Our 9 year old takes a lot of pictures of her stuffed animals posed into amusing scenes. I especially like this one.

http://flickr.com/photos/23166735@N05/2449252046/

We set her up with a Flickr account, with almost all of the pictures set for friends and family only.

[Kim]

Oh taking pictures is one of my almost 4 year old's favorite things to do. We let him use the digital camera and he is really quite good at it. We don't have a polaroid (I haven't since I was little), so that isn't an option. I think that, for us, just teaching him how to handle it and to be responsible with it (not using it without asking, and only when we are there), helps a lot.

[Leslie G.]

Amanda,
My daughter (just turned 3) received the pink childrens Fisher-Price camera from her "Papa" at Christmas. She had no interest in it as her little 2 year old hands could not quite fit around and push the button. Well, she found it up in her closet a few weeks ago and we got it back down.....SHE LOVES IT! She takes the best and sweetest pictures of the "things she loves" (mostly Mama...hehe). I can not say enough about this camera. It is very durable, easy to download pictures (just plug it up to the USB and there they all are), it has a screen that she can look at or 2 eye pieces that remind me of those view finder toys we had, so no squinting with one eye for her right now. But, truly, my favorite part is her love of just taking pictures. Hope this helped some! Have a great week!

Warmly,
Leslie G.

[Elizabeth]

If you do decide to use film, and don't still have your own, your local thrift store will probably have plenty. Ours had about 30 last time I was there, all $2 to $5. My 4 yr. old is saving to get one next week. It's ironic is a sad sort of way that he can get a real camera that is sturdier than the cheap plastic cameras they sell for kids to play with.

Best wishes!

[Alison]

Yes, an older digital is our choice for our wee girl who's almost 3. If only I could keep sticky fingers from prying open the lens cover...
Wish I had a polaroid though, the finished product looks awesome. Keep up the great work, I do love checking in on your blog.

[Jessie Earth Momma]

Amanda,
We are gifting our small digital cam to our soon to be 7 year old. She loves to take pics with my Nikkon, but I fear a large camera in small hands is much too precarious. A little cam provides her size handling, and a sense of responsibility that she can control.

We are refurbishing my old laptop and soon she will learn how to transfer her photos to the computer and soon to Flickr!

[Shannon]

Ah. . . when we first discovered our then 3 yr. olds stolen shots on our digital camera, my husband and spent a gorious hour in her head, seeing the house as she sees it. She took beautiful pictures of sorted laundry and flowers in a vase, pots on the stove, adults from her eye level, dogs under the table, her toys perfectly arranged. . . . So, we got her a digital camera a year ago when she was 5. It's been a bust so I can't wait to see what you come up with. We haven't read the manual and figured out how to download her images! We suck. I am going to get right on it because this has inspired me.

[jean]

I just ran across your blog. It's wonderful! I hope to visit alot in the future! It's really great!

[Melanie]

Wow! I am so suprised by how many of you actually let your kiddos use *your* digital cameras! My kids are so rambunctious that I don't feel safe letting them use mine just yet. They both were given the Fisher Price Kid Tough cameras for Christmas. No, their quality is not superb, but, they ARE durable. I think my two kiddos love taking the pictures more than they like looking at the actual photos they've taken. I am sure (although for some reason, we have not tried it, yet) that their cameras take better pictures when used outside, just like any other camera (mine included). Your little ones may expect more out of their cameras, though?

[melissa s.]

We just upgraded to a digital slr, so gave the kids our old pocket-sized digital. I love that most of the pictures that come out of it are of each other! I set up a flickr set for them and they love seeing their "visions" on the computer screen!

[Mama Urchin]

The advice I give everyone is look on craigslist or yard sales for someone's old digital camera. Sometimes a small thing is broken (like we bought one where the flash no longer worked) but then you can get them cheap and you're still giving the kids the good/real experience.